Draft gear



` 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

E. P. KINNE DRAFT GEAR March 4, 1947.

Filed NOV. 26, 1945 Match 4,-1947. E, P, K|NNE 2,416,928

' DRAFT GEAR y File-d Nav. 26, 1943 v 3 Sheets-,Sheet 3 g v C "follower mi, said wedge foiiewerfteing plementary wedgemenga'gement at |"|6 with vthe provided Vwith the bearer |34, a pair of bearers |134, |34 on the respective members |26, |25 being engaged with each of the associated l'sho'e's as in the previously described embodiments. The adjacent edges of the members |26, |26 are afforded arcuate recesses |36, |36 defining an opening for the reception of the auxiliary release spring |38 compressed at its outer end at |40 against the follower ||4 and seated at its inner end at |42 against the springcap |20.

The arrangement illustrated in Figure 11 is identical with that shown in Figure except for the provision of the auxiliary release springA |38,

which is` arranged in series with the compression springs H8, ||8 and is operable to facilitate release of the wedge follower ||4 by breaking its eontact with the friction shoes;

It is to be understood that I do not wish `to be limited by the exact embodiments of the device shown which are merely by way of illustration and not limitation as various and other forms of the device will, of course, be apparent to those skilled in .the art Without department from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim:

l. In a draft gear, a housing having an open end with an internal friction Surface flaring toward said end, a plurality of friction shoes engaging said surface, a compression spring, a spring cap thereon, an equalizer seated on said cap and bearing against said shoes, a wedge insert recessed in one of said shoes and presenting a wedge surface, wedge surfaces on the other of said shoes, and an outer wedge follower in complementary wedge engagement with all of the said wedge surfaces, all of said wedge surfaces being at approximately the same angle with respect to the axis of the gear, said insert being seated against an arcuate face on its associated shoe, said arcuate face being so formed and arranged that the extremity thereof closest to the open end of said housing is farther from the longitudinal axis of the gear than any other portion of said arcuate face.

2. In a draft gear, a friction housing with an open end, friction surfaces within said housing, friction shoes engaging said surfaces, a compression spring within said housing, a spring cap onl said spring, a two-piece equalizer rockably seated on said cap and bearing against said shoes, an opening centrally of said equalizer, a spring extending through said opening and seated against said cap, a wedge insert bearing against one of said shoes, and an outer wedge follower in com- "with'said las mentioned spring. K

,esta fenster haar engaged 3. Iy adraftlgear, ahousingwith an openfricend ,comprising an internal friction "surface,

for resisting V,nim/*einent of said shoes inwardly with respecttosaid housing, and outer wedge in 'earis fr S'aidsho'es comprising an outer wedge folio'wei`1 associated therewith andan insert recessed at least Vone of said shoes between said shoe and 'said follower, Vsaid follower being spaced Afr' said 'spring means, said insert bearing ag l stan arcuatefaceonits associated shoe witl n the recessthereim said face being so fied arranged that the' extremity thereof fj t'A to' said openen@ isfarther from the 1ongit'udinal axis f the gear than any other portion of said facawherby said insert may move relative to' its associated shoe outwardly ina direction axially the` gear to' momentarily break contajct with said shoe upon yrelease of the gear.

4, 4Ina dra-ft gear, a housing having an open end and `an internalfriction siirface flaring toward said fend, a plurality of friction shoes engaging said siirface, a compression spring, a spngcaptif eonan equalizer seated on said nd bearing against said shoes, a wedge inn complementary engagement with an arcuate face on one 'ofsaid shoes, said insert presentin g al wedge surface, wedge surfaces on the other of said shoes, and an outer wedge follower in eoriiple'riientary wedge engagement with al1 of the said wedge1 suiffaces said arcuate face being so formed and arranged that the extremity thereof closest to the open end of said housing is farther from the longitudinal axis of the gear than any other portion of said arcuate face.

5. In a draft gear, a housing having an open end and an internal friction surface flaring toward said end, a plurality of friction shoes engaging said surface, a compression spring, a spring cap thereon, an equalizer seated on said cap and bearing against said shoes, a Wedge insert in arcuate face engagement with one of said shoes and presenting a wedge surface, wedge surfaces on the other of said shoes, an outer wedge follower in complementary wedge engagement with all of the said Wedge surfaces, and an auxiliary release spring extending through an opening in said equalizer and abutting said cap and said outer follower.

6. In a draft gear, a friction housing with an open end, a friction surface within said housing, friction shoes engaging said surface, a compression spring within said housing, a spring cap on said spring, a two-piece equalizer rockably seated on said cap and bearing against said shoes, an opening centrally of said equalizer, a spring extending through said opening and seated against said cap, a wedge insert bearing against one of said shoes, and an outer Wedge follower in complementary wedge engagement with said insert and with integral wedge surfaces on the other of said shoes, said outer follower bearing against said last-mentioned spring.

'7. In a draft gear, a friction housing kwith an internal friction surface, friction shoes engaging said surface, resilient means for resisting movement of said shoes inwardly with respect to said housing, a wedge insert received within a recess in one of said shoes in complementary engagement with an arcuate face of said shoe, and an outer follower in complementary wedge engagement with said insert and-With integral wedge faces on the other or said shoes, said follower 4,friction shoes engaging ysaid surface, spring means outer extremity thereof with a, flat surface lying.

in a plane tangential to the arc of said lastmentioned face, said extremity being` disposed farther from the longitudinalraxisof said gear than any other portion of said face.

8. In a draft gear, a housing having an open end with an internal friction surface, four shoes engaging said surface, outer wedge means in complementaryV wedgev engagement with means on said shoes, and a pair of inner andouter springs arranged in series within said housing, a spring cap between said springs, and equalizer means on said cap comprising a two-piece member rockably seated thereon, each of said pieces engaging three of said shoes, said outer spring bearing directly against said wedge means.

9. In a draft gear, an elastic housing with an open friction end comprising an internal friction surface Vflaring toward said openfend, friction elements engaging said surface, spring meansfor resisting movement of said elements inwardly along said surface, and outer wedge means for said elements comprising an outer wedge follower associated therewith, and an insert recessed in at least one of said elements between said element and said follower, said follower being spaced from said spring means and disposed a substantial dis-v tance outwardly thereof in the direction axially ofthe gear, said insert bearing against an arcuate face on its associated element within the recess therein, said face being so formed and arranged that the axially outer extremity thereof 8 is farther from the axis of the gear than any other portion of said face, whereby said insert may move relative to its associated element outwardly in the. direction axially of the gear to momentarily break contact with said element upon contraction of said housing during release of the gear. A

V10. In a draft gear, a Yhousing having an open end with an internal friction surface, friction shoes engaging said surface, an outer wedge fol,- lower engagingsaid shoes, a plurality of springs arranged vin' series with a spring plate therebetween, a multi-piece equalizer rockably seated on said plate and engaged with inwardly facing surfaceson said shoes, the outer of said springs bearing against said follower and extending through an opening in said equalizer for engagel ment with said plate.

EDMUND P. KINNE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATESv PATENTS Number Name Date 2,307,321 ,Y Kulieke Jan. 5, 1943 1,571,699 Brenne Feb. 2, 1926 1,555 628 VBrenne Sept. 29, 1925 l 2,205,066 Pierce June 18, 1940 2,257,109 Davidson Sept. 30,1941 2,129,408 Davidson Sept. 6, 1938 1,853,932 Schmidt Ann-12, 1932 Y 2,187,333 Sproul Jan. 16, 1940 Patented Mar. 4, 1947 UNITED STATES 'PATENT orties American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a cor- I poration of New lJersey pplication November 26, 1943, Serial No. 511,806 Claims. (C1. 213-34) 1 My invention relates to draft gears and more particularly to a gear ofl clutch type in which a plurality of friction shoes are received within the open end of a friction barrel or housing and are actuated against spring resistance by outer wedge-means. The present invention is-an improvement of the genericv type of gear illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,307,321, issued January 5, 1943, to F. C. Kulieke. I A further object ofmy invention is to design a gear-of the insert typesomewhat similar to that illustrated and described in United States Letters Patent No. 1,555,628, issued September 29, 1925, to Brenne. The present invention is an improvement on the Brenne structure in that the insert and the complementary face of the associated friction shoe are so formed and arranged that the insert is capable ofmoving outwardly in the direction axially .0f the gear, thus momentarily breaking contact with theassociated friction shoe upc-n release of the gear.

. An object of myinvention is todesign a gear of the above type in which the outer lwedge means comprises an insert. member associated with-one only ofthe frictionshoesand an outer wedgegfollower or block vin complementary wedge engagement with said insert and the rest of said shoes. l

Another object of my invention is to provide an auxiliary release spring, arranged in, series with ythe main compression spring and bearing against the outer follower.` Y

Still another object of my invention is to designa gear of the above type in which a twopiece equalizer is .interposed between the main compression spring and the friction shoes` for equalizing the pressure exertedthereby against said spring on the` closure stroke of the gear.

In the drawings, f Y Figurey 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of one embodiment of mynovel gear, the section being taken in a plane bisecting the gear ,axially thereof,.as indicated by the line -l--l `of Figure 2. Figure 2 is a plan View ,of vthe structure shown in Figure 1withthe outer wedge follower eliminated in, the l right half of this figure. Y Figures 3 to5, inclusive illustrate` the novel equalizer Spring cap shown inl Figures 1 and 2, Figure 3 being a yplan view thereoLFigure 4 being an edgelelevation taken from the `bottom ,as seen in Figure 3, and Figurefbeing anedge elevation taken from the right as seen in Figure 3 and@ i Figures 6 tot` inclusive illustrate,,thelnovel insert type friction shoe shown at the'right in Figure l, Figure 6 being a vplan view thereof, Figure 7 being a side elevation taken from the insert engaging face thereof, Figure 8 being a sectionalview taken in the plane indicated by the line 8-8 of-Figure 7, and Figure 9 being a sectional view taken in the plane indicated by theline 9,-'9 of Figure 8. Y

Figure 1l)v is'a sectional View comparable to Figure'l vbut showing a-modification of my invention,` andFigureffllis al sectionalV View comparableto Figure l and showing another modif-lcation of'my invention. f i

Describingmy invention in detail and referring first toFi'gures. 1 through 9,- my novelfdraft gear comprisesa friction. barrel Vor housing 2 open at oneend thereofand provided with anV internal friction surface 4 against which are seatedfour friction shoes 6.,. 8, lll, and l2, thesurface 4 being ofY scallop-like formation topermit relative rotative adjustment of. theshoes during actuating thereof, while at the Sametime. limiting said adjustment, aswill-be readily understood by those skilled intheiart... l

The.. friction shoe, IB is illustrated vin detail in Figures 6 lto 9 inclusive and comprises the friction wall ldpresentingthe arcuate friction surfacel, forenga-gement with thesurface 4 of the housing,..said surfaces .tapering..inwardly, as clearly illustrated in Figures 1 and 8. On the opposite side thereof the shoe l2 is .provided with a ledge. i3 formed on the outer surface thereof with the recess for the reception of the insert Within said recess 26 is an arcuate bearing surface 2li in complementary engagement with the insert 22, as best seenin Figure l. It may be noted that the surface24 is formed as an are and mergeswith the fiat surface 25 (Figures 7 and 8),.lying ina plane tangential to said arc. In other` words, l the surfaceZll is rso formed and arranged that the. extremity thereof closest to thefopen endof thehousing is fartherfrom the longitudinal axis of the -gear than any .other portion of, the surfacer 24,. By means of this construction, the insert 22, as the .housing 2 contracts uponV the release of the geanispermitted to, momentarily break its contact with the shoe Eil by moving relative thereto in a direction axially ofthe gear and outwardly with respect tothe housing.y The contraction of the housing 2 upon release of thel gear is due to the fact that the surface l tapers inwardly toward l.the inner end of the housing, which is constructed of material suchjas Asteelrhaving the characteristic of slight elasticity or resiliency; thus, as the clutch mechshoes, in a direction axially of the gear, but arev i serts are incapable of movement relative to the only permitted turning movement relative to the shoes, in order to accommodate commercial to1v erances in the wedge surfaces on the shoes, the

housing and the outer wedge follower.

The inner surface of the ledge portion I8 of the shoe Ill is slotted as at 26 for the reception of a bearer 23 formed on the two-piece equalizer spring cap 38, said bearer 28 being seated `as at 3l (Figure l) against the ledge portion I8,

` f The two-piece equalizer spring cap 38 consists of a pair of identical members 32, 32, one of said members being shown in detail in Figures 3 to 5 inclusive. The member 32 is generally semi-circular in plan `(Figure 3), and on the outer face and adjacent the perimeter thereof is formed the before-mentioned bearer 28. VAt each end of the member 32'and on the outer face thereof are the end bearers 34, 3l! cooperating with the associated friction shoes, as hereinafter described. Therouter perimeter of the member 32 is dened by Vtheserni-annular ange 36 projecting axially inwardly with respect to the central plate-like portion 38'which is formed with the semi-annularflange 40 defining the semi-circularV recess 42 in the edge of the member 32 adjacent the othermember 32 forming therewith the twopiece equalizer spring cap 38, the recessesv42, 42

forming a central opening through the spring ca pvll for the reception of an associ ted retaining bolt as hereinafter described.

2,416,928 Y Y e 4. plurality of wedge faces 56, 58. As will be understood from-a consideration of Figure 1, one of the wedge faces 56 is seated against a comple- Y mentary surface on the insert member 22, and

the rest of the wedge faces 56, 56 bear directly against complementary surfaces on the ledges I8, 68 of the respective shoes 6, 8 and l2. lbe noted that all of the wedge faces 5t, 56 are at approximatelythe same angle with respect to theV longitudinal axis of the gear, whereby on the compression stroke of the device all of the friction'shoes move inwardly against the surface 4 at approximately the same rate.

lt will be u-nderstood, however, that each wedge yface 55 may be arranged at any desired angle.

A bolt 58 is mounted Within the housing 2 in the usual manner and a nut 68 (Figure 1) is threaded on the outer extremity of the bolt and seats as at 62 against the follower 52 within the recess 54 to limit outward movement of the followerand shoes on the release stroke ofthe gear,

t will be understood that the insert 22 is koper- Y ableto prevent the parts from sticking en theV closure stroke of the gear, thus insuring prompt Y A modification of my invention is illustrated in Figure Y10, wherein the housing V52 comprises the internal friction surface againstwhich are seated complementary/ faces ofthe friction shoes 5t, 56, one of said shoes being provided with an arcuate recess 58 for the reception of a wedge insert 68, having complementary wedge engagement at S2 withthe outer wedge follower Referring now to Figure 1, it will be seen that v the compression spring M mounted within the housing 2 in usual'manner seats as atedE againstl the inner surfacesof the flanges 35,736, and the compression spring 4.8 sleeved within the spring ,44 seats as at 58 against the plate portions 38. 33

spring can 38.

Each friction shoe 6, 8 and l2 is substantially 1 Vof the respective members 32, 32, constituting Ythe identical with lthe shoe l8 except that the ledge i. I8 thereof is formed without the recess 28`and is in direct engagement with the outer follower,

Vas hereinafter described. The inner surface of with the slot or recess 26 corresponding,r to the l the ledge i8 of each shoe 5 8 and I2 is provided Y before-mentioned slot 25 of the shoe Il). and it will be'understood from a consideration of Figures 1 and 2 tbatrthebearer of each spring canrmemher '32 seats as at 3! against the associated shoe 6 or I8 within the slot 2 thereof l or block 64. plementary wedge engagement follower. Y Y a Seated, on the telescoped compression release springs 38 and 10 is a spring cap 'a'2 presenting The Vother shoes are in direct com as at 66 with said Aa ilat, outer surface 'I4 for rocking engagement as at 'l5 with bearing pads i8, i8 formed'on the inner faces of the equalizer members 88, 88, constituting a two-piece equalizer, each of the members 80 having a bearer 82 received within a complementary recess 84 in the associated fric-V tion shoe and bearing thereagainst'as at 86.' At

each end thereof each member 88v is provided with a bearer 88, a pairof th'ebearers 88, 8,8 being received within each of the `associated 'friction shoes in amanner similar to'that described for Figures 1 and 2. Y

The adjacent faces of the members 88,' 88 arek provided with the semi-circular recesses Si), '95.8

defining an opening for thereception of the retaining vbolt 82, which' extends through the opening 8d in the' spring cap l2 and through an opening 96 in the outer wedge follower l/Lthe outer end ofthe bolt 92 being provided with a nut 28, Y

as in the previouslyA described embodiment.

It will beunderstood that the gearvillustrated in Figure l0 is substantially identical with that Y. illustrated in Figure' l, except'for the fact that for kinterlocking engagement therewith. a pair of v bearers 34,34 of the respective members32, 32

l being received within the slot 25 of each shoe 8 and l2 for interlocking engagement therewith, as more fully described in the above-mentioned patent. Thus each shoe 6 and lil bears against one spring can member 32 and each shoe 8 and i l2 bears against both members 32,32 whereby equalization isfafforded of the pressure exerted by the shoes against the compression release springs 44 and 48. L

The Vouter follower or block 52 is vaVcup-like member comprising the central recess Stand a Y theequalizer members 88,V 88 are rockably-seatecl on a spring Vcap 12, whereas in Figure 1 the equal- Vizer members'32, 32 are formed as spring caps and seatidirectly against the compression springs.

Another modication of my invention is illus# trated in Figure 11, wherein the housing m2 is formed with the internal lfriction surface k82 against which are seated the friction shoes Viil 186, Vone Aof said shoes being provided with,` the arcuate recess I 08 within which is positioned the;

wedge insert member IIB in complementaryar- Vcuate face engagement with said'shoe, the outer surface of saidV insert being incomplementary wedge engagementat Yl l2 with the outer wedge It may Y' 

